Crowd at the stadium in San Salvador, 12 fans are crushed to death

2023-05-21 13:11:56

Time.news – Twelve people were killed in a crush of allo fans Cuscatlan stadium of San Salvador to attend a local soccer tournament match between Alianza and FAS, the National Civil Police (PNC) said. “Preliminarily we have a death toll of twelve, nine of whom are here in the stadium and three others, which have been communicated to us, are in different hospitals,” PNC director Mauricio Arriaza told the press.

“Salvadoran football is in mourning,” Arriaza said of the tragedy, which had initially killed nine people. Besides the dead, several fans were injured, “at least two of them in critical condition,” the police added.

According to the security forces, “the first reports speak of a crowd of fans trying to get in to watch the match between Alianza and FAS”. The match was suspended as emergency services evacuated people from the stadium in an operation involving hundreds of police and military personnel.

The spokesman of the EMS Comandos de Salvamento group, Carlos Fuentes, declared for the first time that there were seven men and two women. The death toll rose to 12 some hours later.

As for the people assisted, he said that “preliminarily there are more than 500 people in need of help” who have concentrated in the “popular sun” sector of the stadium, with a capacity of around 35,000, located in the southwest sector of San Salvador.

The 100 people in the most serious condition were taken to national hospitals and the Salvadoran Social Security Institute, some with signs of asphyxiation and others with “different types of trauma”. As to the origin of the accident, Fuentes said that “apparently one of the gates of the solar sector fell and that caused people to flock.”

Players from teams due to meet in the quarter-finals of the local soccer tournament joined in the care of the injured inside the stadium. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said an investigation was underway to determine those responsible.

“The PNC and the Attorney General’s Office will conduct a thorough investigation into the events at Cuscatlan Stadium,” Bukele wrote on Twitter. “Everyone will be investigated: teams, managers, stadium, ticket office, league, federation, etc,” he added.

He warned that “whoever is guilty will not go unpunished”. In a statement, the Salvadoran federation (Fesfut) said it “deeply regrets” the events that took place in the Cuscatlan stadium. Furthermore, it “expresses its solidarity” with the families of those “affected and killed” in the accident. “FESFUT will immediately request an incident report and communicate the relevant information as soon as possible,” he said.